CanadaDirected By Women, Drama, Experimental, Family, Family-friendly, Fantasy, Fiction, History, Immigrant stories, Interactive Podcast, Mystery
As a child, Crystal loved when her “Pawpaw” (“grandmother” in Chinese) shared life lessons through fables as the two took walks together. Now Crystal realizes Pawpaw was sharing her journey as a child refugee, hiding tragedy behind adventure. Listeners gradually learn about the heartbreaking contrast between real violence and a child’s interpretation of it. As the listener walks to the store or through a park, they’re forced to examine their steps and stories next to a refugee’s.
Download EIGHTY THOUSAND STEPS, available for FREE now on the App store or Google Play.
Steps Together: Join Crystal Chan on a walkabout and experience a step-powered story. Regroup and discuss in a talk-back session with the artist. Bring along your smartphone, earbuds or headphones!
Artist Talk: Crystal Chan breaks down how the project came together. What were her artistic goals and how did they balance with the technical challenges? How did Chan work with developer Stitch Media to create an elegant user experience?
FREE PROGRAMMING
November 16, 4:00PM
Steps Together: artist-led walk around downtown Toronto to explore & experience the app
November 18, 2:00PM
Artist talk with creator Crystal Chan and the development team from Stitch Media
Bachir/Yerex Presentation Space
401 Richmond St W
Suite 440
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This app uses your mobile device’s accelerometer technology to measure footsteps, but the app has a non-pedometer mode that users in wheelchairs may experience. The artist talk is in a space accessible to wheelchairs or people who need step-free access but the walk-around will take place on city sidewalks where accessibility may be unpredictable. To let us know about your accessibility needs, please click below.
Crystal Chan
Crystal 倩瓊 Chan is a Hong Kong-born, Montreal-based artist, producer, and former film critic dedicated to telling stories in new ways. She teaches media writing at the University of British Columbia and works for RavenSpace, a pioneering multimedia platform for Indigenous and collaborative creation.
Some family stories are so epic they demand telling. Some moments in history require the intimate and inside knowledge of community storytellers. The venerated Chinese Canadian filmmaker Keith Lock narrates the story of how his mother married his father in Australia, who was training with other Chinese Canadian veteran volunteers for the top secret suicide mission, Operation Oblivion.
Mariam, a medical student, is dealing with her grandfather’s passing, her grieving mother, and preparing for upcoming exams. When an estranged and suspiciously helpful uncle re-enters their lives and promises support with their property and finances, Mariam senses trouble.
When Azra, a queer Muslim grad student, hears of her father’s sudden death, she flies back to her ancestral home in Karachi, Pakistan for the funeral, where she is received by her conservative mother, Mariam, perpetually disappointed by Azra’s choices. As a self-assured Azra wrestles with Karachi’s customs and norms, we time travel back to Mariam’s own life in the city 30 years ago, a remarkably different era in Pakistan’s political and cultural history.
Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian and Asian diasporic artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
401 Richmond Street West, The Commons (Suite 448)
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 Canada
(416) 703 – 9333
info@reelasian.com
Charitable number: 870021383RR0001
